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DISCLAIMERThis document was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Governmentnor the University of California nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility forthe accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringeprivately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, orotherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or the University ofCalifornia. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or theUniversity of California, and shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes. This report has been reproduced directly from the best available copy. Available to DOE and DOE contractors from the Office of Scientific and Technical Information P.O. Box 62, Oak Ridge, TN 37831 Prices available from (615) 576-8401, FTS 626-8401 Available to the public from the National Technical Information Service U.S. Department of Commerce 5285 Port Royal Rd., Springfield, VA 22161

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NWET ANNUAL REPORT QDV-99-0001l-lntroduction and OverviewRobust Nuclear-Weapons-Effects Testing (NWET) capability will be needed for theforeseeable future to ensure the performance and reliability, in nuclear environments, of theevolving U.S. stockpile of weapons and other assets. Ongoing research on the use ofhigh-energy lasers to generate environments of utility in nuclear weapon radiation effectssimulations is addressed in the work described in this report. Laser-driven hohlraums and avariety of other targets have been considered in an effort to develop NWET capability of thehighest possible fidelity in above-ground experiments. The envelope of large-system testneeds is shown as the gray region in fig. 1. It does not represent the spectrum of anydevice; it is just the envelope of the spectral region of outputs from a number of possibledevices. It is a goal of our laser-only and ignition-capsule source development work togenerate x rays that fall somewhere in this envelope. One of the earlier appearances of thisenvelope is in ref. 1.The Defense Special Weapons Agency provided important support for the work describedherein. A total of $520K was provided in the 1997 lACROs 97-3022 for SourceDevelopment and 97-3048 for Facilitization. The period of performance specified in theStatement of Work ran from 28 February 1997 until 30 November 1997. This period wasextended, by agreement with DSWA, for two reasons: 1) despite the stated period of Disk Targets & Underdense Radiators / Hot e- bremsstrahlung NIF Target Outputs based on Envelope >f Large Nova Experiments System Tt st Needs and Lasnex modeling Estimate of "SLIC" NIF ignition capsule NWET performance Assumptions • Uniformity 0-15keV±10% >15keV±33% • Efficiency 0-2 keV 50% 1-5 keV 25% 5-15keV10% >15keV0.25% 1000 Photon Energy (keV) Figure l: Plot of the uniform fluence-area products of various NIF non-ignition sources plus an estimate of the performance of the Seed-Layer Ignition Capsule against a background of the envelope of large-system test requirements suggested by Dr. Cyrus P. Knowles of Jaycor. DSWA Final Report

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NWET ANNUAL REPORT QDV-99-0001performance, funds were not available at LLNL to begin this work until somewhat later inthe fiscal year, and 2) we agreed to stretch the current resources until follow-on funds werein hand, to minimize effects of ramping down and up again.The tasks addressed in this report are the following:1) Non-ignition-source model benchmarking and design. This involves analysis of existing and new data on laser-only sources to benchmark LASNEX predictions2) Non-ignition-source development experiments3) Ignition capsule design to improve total x-ray output and simplify target fabrication4) Facilitization of source arrays and of the NIF for NWETA funding triad that includes the Defense Special Weapons Agency, the NIF Project andLLNLs Defense Technology Department supports the work that is reported in thisdocument. The additional work presented here shows how the DSWA-funded workintegrates with the larger effort.There has been continued success in the development and fielding of the potentially longer-duration non-ignition beryllium-can sources. There have been advances in understanding ofthe relevant physics of these underdense radiators as well as further experimental supportfor the validity of the predictions. This report includes results on our SLIC designs (SeedLayer Ignition Capsules) that permit optimism for prospects of improving the hot-x-ray-to-neutron ratio and total hot x-ray yield for NIF ignition targets.An important summary of the laser-only x-ray environments appears again in this yearsdocument. This summary serves as an audit trail for the non-ignition-sources that areprojected for NIF based on experimental results and on projections of LASNEX modeling.Reference:1. NWET Applications for NIF Workshop (a compendium of viewgraphs) 15-17 March 1994. ed. by Gregory Simonson of LLNL DSWA Final Report

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NWET ANNUAL REPORT QDV-99-0001ll-Experimental Measurements of X-Ray Emission fromXenon-filled Beryllium Hohlraums11-1. Introduction:As a follow-on to experiments in 1996, three xenon-gas-filled beryllium hohlraum shotswere performed in July 1997. These shots were on hohlraums that were redesigned basedon post-shot calculations of the previous targets (see next article). The targets wereimproved by using larger laser entrance holes (LEHs) to eliminate refraction of the laserbeam that was caused by low density Be plasma that formed at the inside edges of theLEHs. A small percentage of krypton (Z=36) gas was added to the xenon (Z=54) toattempt a measurement of the plasma temperature using ratios of various x-ray lines fromhelium-like krypton. Target diagnostics showed uniform heating of a 2 mm long gas-filledcan and an x-ray pulse that was longer in duration. The peak of the x-ray emission and x-ray pulse duration are more consistent with the predictions from simulations. Theconversion efficiency measured by the absolutely-calibrated spectrometer was similar toprevious determinations, approximately 12 % for the 2 mm diameter hohlraums.11-2. Experimental Setup:As before, experiments were performed using the NOVA laser. Due to newly lowered Novabeam energy constraints, we used approximately 32 kJ of 0.35 jim laser light in 2 ns flat-topped intensity profile. The 1996 shots had about 40 kJ available. This operationalenergy limit was lowered due to damage to laser optics. The laser beams entered throughthe holes in the endcaps of the target and irradiated the inside of a Be cylinder that wasfilled with xenon gas and a 10%-20% admixture of krypton for temperature diagnostics.The lasers heat the gas to form a highly ionized plasma that emits x-rays. These x-rayspass through the walls of the Be cylinder and are detected by both time-resolved and time-integrated diagnostics. The physical target dimensions were similar to previous shots - 1.8mm outer length (1.6 mm inner length) and 2 mm in diameter; however, in this design thelaser entrance holes (LEHs) were 1.5 mm in diameter instead of 1.0 mm. Detailed post-shot calculations of the 1.0 mm LEHs of the target indicated that the x-ray pulse andheating were negatively affected by refraction of the laser beams by a low density Beplasma that formed at the edges of the entrance holes. For the current experiments, theLEHs were increased from 1 mm to 1.5 mm in diameter to eliminate the problem and to test this aspect of the calculations. Furthermore, one Be hohlraum was increased to 3.6 mm in diameter to test a scaling of the conversion efficiency with size of the target. The gas fill in the targets was slightly modified from the previous targets in that Xe was doped with 10% or 20% Kr to enable measurements of temperature by K-shell spectroscopy of the almost- fully-ionized krypton. In all other target fabrication respects, i.e., glue, pressure tests, Be wall thickness, etc., the targets were similar to the previous series of experiments.The diagnostic complement was enhanced by the addition of more x-ray diodes and x-rayfilm packs. Previously-used diagnostics were fielded again and included absolutely-calibrated x-ray crystal spectrometers called Henways, x-ray streak cameras, and x-rayimagers. New diagnostics were x-ray diodes that gave an independent secondmeasurement of the conversion efficiency and x-ray film packs which measured the angularsymmetry of the x-ray emission. DSWA Final Report - 6 -

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NWET ANNUAL REPORT QDV-99-0001 o 2.5 r (D (Q fi> X < O >_ (0 ■D 0) 3" .c a (0 (A > > - 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5 7.0 7.5 photon energy (keV) Figure I. Spectrum from a time-integrated x-ray spectrometer. This target was a filled to 1 atm with 80% Xe and 20% Kr. It was 1.8 mm in length and 2.0- mm in diameter. The ordinates of this plot are uncertain due to difficulties with the absolute calibration of the instrumentation. The left axis shows the x-ray intensity. The right axis shows the cumulative integral of this x-ray intensity.11-3. Experimental ResultsThree shots were performed in this series of experiments in 1997. All were on 1 atmtargets. One was filled with 80% Xe and 20% Kr and two were filled with 90% Xe and 10% Kr. These Xe-filled hohlraum targets were irradiated by the Nova laser to investigatethe x-ray output of laser-heated targets in the photon energy range of 4 to 10 keV. Twotargets with a 2 mm diameter were fielded - one with 80% Xe and 20 % Kr, and the otherwith 90 % Xe and 10 % Kr. The third target was 3.6 mm in diameter with a 90% Xe and 10 % Kr gas fill. The Nova laser delivered 32 kJ of laser energy in a 2 ns flat-topped laserpulse that supersonically ionizes the Xe gas. Target shot numbers were 27072309,27072311, and 27072403 (large can).Conversion efficiency was measured by both the Henway crystal spectrometers as before,and with x-ray diodes brought from NRL. In fig. 1 is an example of the spectrum and itsrunning integral from shot 27072309. The running integral is plotted on the right-handaxis. The n= 3-2 transitions are found in the 4-to-5 keV range and the n=4-2 and 5-2transitions are in the 5.5-to-7 keV range. For each shot, these data are collected for twopositions, one from the side and the other along the axis of the hohlraum. The x-ray outputfrom these small hohlraums were not angularly dependent, in contrast to previous shotswith smaller laser entrance holes. The large hohlraum, however, did show a slightasymmetry. The two shots performed on the 2 mm diameter (small) hohlraums gave aconversion efficiency of 15% into the 4 to 7.5 keV photon energy range. The largerhohlraums were less efficient and gave a conversion efficiency of 9.4% from the side and 13.0% along the laser axis. This larger hohlraum was filled to the same pressure andtherefore density, however, they were less efficient which is consistent with x-ray imagesof the hohlraum that showed that the entire volume of gas was not uniformly heated.DSWA Final Report 7 -

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NWET ANNUAL REPORT QDV-99-0001Measurements by the x-ray diodes tend to give a lower conversion efficiency, near 7%.However, the analysis of these data was hampered by a low signal-to-noise ratio, whichmakes the error bar large. While this conversion efficiency is still much larger than ablativedisk targets in this regime, the difference between the two conversion efficiencymeasurements by the Henway Bragg crystal spectrometers and the x-ray diodes fielded onthe same shot is under investigation. Both of these measurements depend on the absolutecalibration of the diagnostics. In the case of the spectrometer, the reflectivity of the crystalis the largest error, and this can easily account for a 50 % error bar. For the diodes, thisdepends on the calibration of the anodes on a source of measured flux. 10 mm ;p mm Blocking Hal» Porittonw -^ ._ ?5 mm ■ ^I2 mm p rl ^^fvitlons fe £ I Main Tube (57 mm I.D.) Manson Source fcCP-CCD "=PES7.07mm t At (whin Ml 9? mmn s Crystal "R" Crystal "GFigure 2a. Schematic of experimental setup designed by Fred Ze to measure integrated reflectivity of thecurved Henway crystals used in the experiments. A Manson source and microchannel plate were used torecord the data tV£jftVtjjft HgtUnft ye HgpyQA , Hpn1PAYiHerj2gg Jj^n)pgysHgn?Pfi, ■Hqn.1 RC vs Hangrjr, s —■— 10000 r — -500 0 500 -500 O 500 Space ^m) Figure 2b. Measurement of the integrated reflectivity of a curved Henway crystal used in the experiments. The top curve indicates the incident x-rays source intensity, the bottom curve is a measure of the reflectivity corrected for the microchannel plate response. DSWA Final Report 8 -

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NWET ANNUAL REPORT QDV-99-0001For the crystals, we have performed measurements on a stationary-anode source in thelaboratory. This does not measure the rocking curve of the crystal, however, it doesmeasure the integrated reflectivity. Figure 2 shows some results from supplementarymeasurements on a laboratory Manson x-ray source that we are continuing to analyze.The angular dependence was examined by the use of x-ray film packs that were located attwo different points within the chamber. They were passive diagnostics that were attachedto diagnostic-insertion SIM carts that were driven into the chamber for the gated andstreaked diagnostics. These film packs were filtered for both above 4 keV photon energies,and also for above 13 keV photon energies and were time integrated. The results showeda less-than 5 % asymmetry.The temporal dependence of the Xe emission (hv = 4-7 keV) was only obtained on thelarge hohlraum. In the first two shots, time-dependent data were not obtained due todiagnostic difficulties. The large hohlraum shows marked improvement in conversionefficiency compared to the targets shot in 1996 due to the improved design of thehohlraum. Figure 3 shows the temporal history of the emission compared to the data fromthe 1996 series. The red curve is from the 1997 data while the blue and green curves arefrom the 1996 data. In the 1997 data, the emission lasts for nearly the full 2 ns duration ofthe laser pulse whereas before, the refraction of the beam at the laser entrance holes causeda reduced emission after 1 ns. to c 0) Time (ns)Figure 3. Temporal history of the x-ray pulse of the L-shell of Xe. The red curve is the large-can newdata showing a longer duration of the x-rays of interest. The green curve is for the old design 1996target with a smaller LEH and a 1 atm fill and the blue curve is for the 1996 target with a 2 atm fill.Imaging results showed a vast improvement in the uniformity of the heated target. Theyare recorded on a gated pinhole imager and filtered for appropriate photon energy ranges.For the smaller 2 mm diameter targets, the x-ray emission is fairly uniform in the side-onimages. This is in contrast to the previous target design (experiments in 1996) that showeda central cold region, even late in time. Figure 4 shows x-ray images of the target from theside view filtered for two different photon energy bands. The lasers enter the hohlraum DSWA Final Report

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NWET ANNUAL REPORT QDV-99-0001 *?S-Ä* Xe image @ 1.3 ns (hv > 4 keV) Kr image @ 1.3 ns (hv > 13 keV) Figure 4. Two-dimensional x-ray images of the target. The image of the left is for photon energies > 4 keV and is dominated by the Xe emission at 1.3 ns . The image on the right is filtered for photon energies > 13 keV: At 1.3 ns these come primarily from Kr in the target.from the left and right of the target. On the left is an image filtered for x-rays at 4 keV andabove. Here it is fairly uniform in the second half of the pulse and some plasma is seenescaping the laser entrance holes. On the right is an x-ray images filtered for hv > 13 keV.A two lobed emission pattern is still visible early in time, but at about 1.5 ns, it remainsnon-uniform even later in the pulse. The data show that the lasers have already propagatedinto the center of the hohlraum by 1 ns for Xe (hv>4 keV images) and by 1.3 ns in the Kr(/zv>13 keV images). This x-ray emission is strongly weighted by the density and we arepresently comparing these images with computer simulations of the target. A variation in Xe emission over this region at a later time, ~ 1.8 ns, was measured to be -10 % on shot 27072311 and this has a high correlation with the laser energy on target. In the case shown below in figure 5, the energy of the laser beams irradiating the top of the target was slightly lower. In the future, beam balance can be requested to avoid this non-uniformity. The larger targets still show small volumes of gas that are not heated enough to emit >4 keV x-rays. Figure 6 gives an example of these images to compare to those in figure 3, Xe image @ 1.8 ns (hv > 4 keV) but for the larger target. We currently comparing these images with calculations ofFigure 5. X-ray image for a 1 atm pressure the emission.target at photon energies hv> 4 keV. The entireinner volume 2 mm in diameter and 1.8 mm Images taken end-on from the axial pinholelong is recorded in emission at a time 1.8 ns after imager are shown for the small and largethe laser starts. hohlraum in figure 7. The blue and red circles show the diameter of the two different sized cans viewed end-on. The smaller DSWA Final Report 10

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NWET ANNUAL REPORT QDV-99-0001 Large hohlraum Xe image (>4 keV)@ 1.8 ns Kr image (>13 keV)@ 1.8 ns Figure 6. X-ray image for a I atm pressure target at photon energies hv > 4 keV at 1.8 ns into the pulse for a 3.6 mm diameter target. In the Xe image, the larger volume is not uniform and the corners of the target are not heated sufficiently to emit > 4 keV x-rays. In the Kr image, the emission is in the center and does not spread to the full diameter of the can.diameter target images show bright emission at the wall of the 2 mm diameter can whichcorresponds to the positions of the incoming beams on the inside wall of the hohlraum.The brighter emission at the wall is of considerable interest since the wall is made of Be andshould not emit more than the gas fill at these photon energies. The Be wall material isprovided by Brush Wellman and the material certification shows that this material consists 2 mm diameter 3.6 mm diameterFigure 7. X-ray images from gated axial pinhole cameras filtered for x-rays > 4keV at about 1 nsinto the experiment.. The left image is from a 2 mm diameter hohlraum and the right image isfrom the 3.6 mm larger diameter hohlraum.DSWA Final Report

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NWET ANNUAL REPORT QDV-99-0001 of 99.39 % Be. (P.O. # 1448403), where the contaminants are largely low to mid-Z materials. The highest Z contaminant is Ti at 0.004 % which is a small enough percentage to have a negligible effect on the emission, even if Ti He a lines at 4.7 keV are produced. Independent target characterization on site at LLNL of the actual target shows impurities of O, Al, Si, S, Cl, K, Ca and Fe in small quantities that total less than 0.1 % by weight. Again this confirms that the impurities are insufficient to cause significant amounts of emission in these target images. Thus, the higher emission observed is probably an effect due to the higher density of the gas near at the wall since the Be is expected to ablate towards the center of the hohlraum and compress the Xe plasma. In the 3.6 mm diameter hohlraum this compression effect is not visible and instead "columns" of heated gas are produced where the laser beam passes. The intensity of the emission in these images is not the same as those in the side-on view because of different gains in the x-ray framing cameras. During these experiments, there was also an attempt to measure the krypton K-shell lines that can serve as a temperature diagnostic. The geometry is shown below in figure 8. TheFigureS. Schematic of the target chamber showing the SIM tube geometry fielded for the temperaturesensitive diagnostic. The outside circle represents the 2.2 meter radius Nova target chamber. The blueline is the line of sight of the SIM lube tilted low by 3 ° and the red line shows the x-ray path. Thelight blue line is the position of the crystal. DSWA Final Report 12

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NWET ANNUAL REPORT QDV-99-0001diagnostic was an x-ray streak camera coupled to a Bragg crystal. The krypton He-a lineis at 13.1 keV; high-resolution spectroscopy at this photon energy has not been done beforeat Nova. We need to get high resolution in order to use the ratio of the Li-like satellite linesto the He-a line as a temperature diagnostic. As this ratio becomes larger, the temperatureis lower because more Li-like satellite lines exist at lower temperatures.Experimentally two different crystals were fielded. The sensitivity to these high energy x-rays is not well measured because they are not commonly used and stationary x-raycalibration sources have difficulty achieving these photon energies. In figure 8, theoutside circle is a schematic of the 2.2 meter radius target vacuum chamber and the SIMtube is explicitly shown coming up from the bottom left. Due to the Bragg angle neededfor sufficient resolution, the spectrometer was pointed below target chamber center toaccommodate a quartz (5052) or a LiF (422) Bragg crystal; these have a 2d spacing of 1.624 and 1.652 Ä respectively. Ge (111) was considered but not used because ofpossible fluorescence of the Ge itself at these energies. Alignment of the diagnostic wastested on a maintenance day at Nova and offsets for the SIM tube were calibrated at thattime. FILE "27072309ssc3.pds" Horizontal line-out ROWS #333 TO 476 Y FROM 19.9200 TO 28.5000 AY (EDGES) =8.64000 T" X(irm) Figure 9. Spectrum from two different shots, taken at 1.5 ns. The peak at x = 7 mm is due to krypton He-a emission at 13.1 keV An example of the data obtained on this instrument is shown in figure 9. A streaked x-ray spectrometer shows a pronounced double bump in time in the Xe/Kr continuum emission with the Kr He-a line appearing in the second half of the 2 ns pulse on the first target. Below are a preliminary spectral lineouts showing the data from two different shots. The peak is due to emission from the He-a line located on the abscissa at approximately x=7 mm is at 13.1 keV. The emission is weaker than expected and therefore the determination of temperature from this data is difficult due to low signal-to-noise ratio. DSWA Final Report - 13

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NWET ANNUAL REPORT QDV-99-000111-4. ConclusionsExperimental measurements have been performed on laser-produced plasmas that showthey can generate a significant quantity of x-rays above 4 keV. In summary, these targetsshow that the design of the hohlraums is much improved from the previous experiments.This improvement is principally due to the larger laser entrance hole size, which eliminatesrefraction of the incoming laser beams. We are continuing to analyze the data. The resultsshow a conversion efficiency similar to the 1996 targets, but a much more uniform heatingof the target. The large-scale computer simulations for conversion efficiency and durationof the x-ray pulse better model these data. For a Xe filled hohlraum volume of 5 mm3, weare able to produce a 7-13 % efficient underdense radiator. The larger hohlraums are bothpredicted and measured to have about 25% lower x-ray conversion efficiency. There arethree-dimensional features in the data that should be studied in further modeling.Side-on imaging of the targets indicates we successfully produced targets with the entirelength of the hohlraum to be in emission. The uniformity was measured to be -10 % thatcan be entirely attributed to beam balance and this can be improved with better balance ofthe beam energies in future targets.End-on imaging of the small cans that shows higher-intensity radiation near the wallsunder the laser spots suggests that there may be a tamping of the emitting gas by blowoff ofthe beryllium hohlraum material. By contrast, the large hohlraum emission appeared to bealong the laser beams and did not achieve early or mid-time higher-intensity radiation nearthe walls. However the sideways extent of the columns of radiation seen in the largehohlraums could give clues of electron conductivity in these plasmas.New filter pack diagnostics and corrections to the original data based on the relativecalibrations have reduced the apparent asymmetry of the previous data to withinuncertainties of the measurements.Outstanding issues include the x-ray crystal and diode calibrations to reduce the error barand inconsistencies in the conversion efficiency numbers. The conversion efficiencyranged from 5% to 20%, depending on the angle of view.First attempts at a K-shell krypton temperature diagnostic were encouraging butinconclusive. These photon energies (> 13 keV) have not been measured on Nova laser-produced plasmas before and the small number of shots makes diagnostic developmentdifficult. The krypton He-a line was observed, but the signal level is quite low. Two-dimensional images of the targets show the region of emission for Kr {hv>.3 keV) issmaller than for Xe (hv>4 keV). This diagnostic is still being developed. DSWA Final Report - 14

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NWET ANNUAL REPORT QDV-99-0001lll-Lasnex Modeling of Underdense Plasma RadiatorsIH-1. IntroductionUnderdense plasma radiators have been studied as part of a program to produce multi-keVx-ray sources for use on large lasers such as NIF. The initial work in this area focussed onxenon-filled gas bags that were driven by the Nova laser. More recently, it has beenproposed to use laser-heated Xe-filled Be hohlraums or cans; these sources are predicted tohave a high conversion efficiency and an x-ray output duration longer than those fromlaser-heated gas bags. As a result, experiments were executed to assess the performance ofthese underdense radiators and to test our ability to model them. 4 101 i I i i i i I ) i i i | i i i i | i i i i Experiment 3 10 12 Simulation P(TW) 2 10 12 1 10 12 U »III! I ■ I . I I I I ■ I I I I ■ I I I I I 4 I I I *" 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 t(ns)Figure 1. Comparison of the 1996 underdense plasma temporal emission profile with two simulations:one with refraction of the incoming laser beams, the other without. It is very suggestive that refractionwas truncating the x-ray emission and is the basis for the increased laser-entrance hole diameter in the1997 shots described in the previous article.111-2. DiscussionIn this report we present simulations that were performed after the first set of gas-filled-canexperiments. These simulations help to understand the differences between modeling andthe experimental results as well as to aid in designing the next round of experiments.Simulations and experiment were not in full accord following the first round of beryllium-can experiments. The duration of the emission lasted only about 1 ns in contrast to the DSWA Final Report 15 -

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NWET ANNUAL REPORT QDV-99-0001 : «&v..- ":^i|s - ■.**§£ Figure 2. Lasnex modeling of the largc-(l.5 mm diameter) laser-entrance-hole beryllium hohlraum that is filled with 1 atmosphere of xenon gas. In practice, only one quadrant of this picture is modeled because of symmetry. The laser beams are shown in magenta, the Be hohlraum in black and the interface between the beryllium blowoff and the xenon gas is shown in cyan. This shows that the larger LEH has solved the late-time beam refraction problem. Tick marks are separated by 100 (im.predicted 2 ns. The experimental images also showed spatial gaps in the emission patterns,whereas simulations indicated that the emission should not show a gap at the center. Aseries of simulations was performed which attempted to mock up effects such as inhibitedelectron transport, beam deflection and backscattering. None of these effects appeared torecover the experimental results.However, the experimental emission images indicated that large amounts of plasma hadescaped the can through the laser entrance hole (LEH). In the first set of Lasnexsimulations, material outside the Be can was lost from the calculation during rezones. Aftermodifying our zoning scheme to follow the escaping plasma properly, we found that Beblow-off from the lip of the laser entrance hole was impinging into the path of the laserbeam. This near critical density plasma was found to refract the laser beam so severelythat the beam would no longer enter into the can. With refraction included we found that thetemporal history of the x-ray emission agreed well with experiments. To show this we plotin figure 1 the experimental results (red) along with the initial simulations (blue) and thenew simulations (green) including refraction.As a result of the simulations which included Be blow-off, modifications to the Be candesign were made which alleviated the refraction problem. In particular, the laser entrancehole diameter was increased from 1.0 mm to 1.5 mm. The dimensions of the new designare shown in figure 2 where we plot the can zoning (black), the laser rays (magenta), andDSWA Final Report - 16

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NWET ANNUAL REPORT QDV-99-0001 x-ray production 111111 M11111 ii 111111111111 New design 0 t(ns) Figure 3. Predicted temporal history of the x-ray emissions from the old, small LEH design and the new, large LEH design.the interface between the Be and Xe (cyan). This figure shows that the Be blowoffmaterial does not impinge on the path of the laser beam.The temporal history of the x-ray power from the new design is shown in figure 3 alongwith that from the old design. At early time the x-ray production is a bit less for the newdesign due to less confinement of the gas with the larger LEH. However, the x-rayproduction increases with time and last for the full 2 ns. The time integrated x-rayproduction is greatly improved with the new design.The new LEH designs were the basis of the next set of experiments that were reported inthe previous article. These experiments had two targets sizes both with the larger LEH t(ns) Figure 4. Comparison of the LASNEX predictions with the measured xenon L-shell emission for the large (3.6 mm diameter) can. DSWA Final Report 17 -

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NWET ANNUAL REPORT QDV-99-0001 Figure 5. Side view of a beryllium Hohlraum with X-ray images showing radiation with hv > 4 keV.: The upper row shows the data. The lower row shows synthetic images produced by postprocessing the Lasnex simulation. shown in figure 2. The standard size can (2 mm long x 2 mm diameter) was used along with a larger can (2 mm long x 3.6 mm diameter). The targets produced uniform emission lasting the entire duration of the laser pulse as predicted. In figure 4 we plot the x-ray emission versus time for the large can along with the predictions. The temporal history of the x-ray emission agrees quite well with the experiments. Therefore, we now believe the refraction hypothesis to be the probable cause for the discrepancies seen in the first campaign. In Figure 5 we plot the observed spatial images of the x-ray emission as well as the emission patterns predicted by simulations. Before making comparisons it is important to note that the data no longer show the dark gaps at the center at early time. The can appears to be uniformly heated and the resulting emission pattern is uniform for the duration of the laser pulse. This is a vast improvement over the first set of experiments. This fact along with the temporal data indicates that refraction from the LEH was indeed degrading the performance of the first targets. However, the simulations differ from the data in two distinct ways. First, the simulations predict brighter emission at the center plane. Whereas, the data seems to be more or less uniform over the can. Second, the simulations predict a tamping effect in which the ablating Be squeezes the Xe gas radially inward. The predicted x-ray emission patterns therefore get narrower with time as shown in Figure 5. In contrast, the experimental images appear to have the same height throughout the laser pulse. In order to comment on the possible source of these discrepancies we must first understand why the simulated emission patterns appear as they do. In a coronal approximation, we can assume that the emission per unit volume scales like the electron density squared multiplied by some power (usually 1/2) of the electron temperature. The emission pattern can be understood by taking this scaling for the local emission and transporting the x-rays out of the can allowing for rotational symmetry. Therefore, in figure 6. we plot the electron temperature and the electron density at 2.0 ns. We can see that the emission at the center is DSWA Final Report - 18

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NWET ANNUAL REPORT QDV-99-0001 due to the stagnation shown in Figure 6. Even though there is no stagnation on axis, the rotational symmetry makes the emission appear to occur on axis. The stagnation may be a two dimensional effect. In two-dimensional cylindrically symmetric simulations the laser spots are rings uniform around the azimuth. Therefore, the blow-off plasma is also symmetric and must converge like a cylinder. On Nova, there are five laser spots on each side of the hohlraum; the space between spots is initially comparable to the spot size itself. Thus, in the experiments in three dimensions, the plasma blow off occurs in different regions and may not accumulate in the same manner. Electron Temperature Electron Density : p* |g?0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 0.0 0.5 1.0 T,e (keV) ne/ncFigure 6. Lasnex images of the electron temperature in keV and electron density in units of the fractionof the critical electron density for 0.35 micron laser light, These quantities are shown for a small (radius= 2 mm) beryllium hohlraum at 2 ns. just as the laser drive beams are turning off. Likewise the fact that the data shows no tamping may also be a three dimensional effect. With a five beams in the azimuth there are regions where there is little tamping. Therefore, the x-rays can still come from larger radii and would show very little tamping. These discrepancies may be resolved by diagnosing the electron density and electron temperature in several regions throughout the can. In addition, three dimensional simulations would also be very useful to see how the plasma really might stagnate. 111-3. Conclusions: Lasnex modeling has led to the design of a successful underdense radiating beryllium hohlraum filled with an L-shell xenon plasma. This correct problem was identified after examining several parameters related to the Lasnex simulations. The temporal profile of the simulations and of the measured data for the large hohlraum are in very reasonable accord. Diagnostic difficulties during the experiment prevent comparison with the emission from the smaller-radius hohlraums. There remain some qualitative and quantitative differences between the measurements and experiments. In particular, we are interested in the apparent fact that the hottest, most strongly radiating portions of the plasma in the small hohlraums, even relatively early in the laser pulse, appear near the walls of the hohlraum. This may be due to 3-dimensional effects. These are important questions to address. DSWA Final Report 19 -

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NWET ANNUAL REPORT QDV-99-0001IV-Hot X-Ray Output from Seed-Layer Ignition Capsules Hot x-rays are needed for radiation effects testing on NIF. Based on LASNEXcalculations, we find that it may be possible to make hot-x-ray-source ignition capsules.Two new NIF ignition capsule designs are presented. Both designs eliminate the need toseed the frozen DT. The first design adds a mid-Z seed to the ablator. The second designputs a thin layer of the seed material between the DT fuel and the ablator. This has verypositive implications for target fabrication. Unoptimized results suggest that a 30 MJignition capsule can produce over 5MJ of x-rays above 5 keV, about 2 MJ have energiesabove 20 keV, and about 1 MJ are above 40 keV. We have also found that many useful x-rays are lost to absorption in standard gold hohlraum walls; alternate hohlraum designswith much less gold and lower-Z walls are being investigated.IV-1. Introduction We have looked at ways to increase the hot x-ray output by the modification ofsuccessful designs of NIF ignition capsules (ref. I) This is of interest to the radiationeffects community. There is an ongoing need to revalidate hardware by exposing it tofluences of x-rays above 10 keV. Without underground testing NIF will be one of very fewsources able to provide theneeded fluences of these x-rays.The result is a new variant ofthe standard NIF ignitioncapsule (ref. 1) that isillustrated schematically in fig. 1. This design holds promise for more flexibility in tailoringoutput, producing morecopious and harder x-rays. Inaddition, the target fabrication challenge is reduced from that Baseline Hi-Z-seeded CHO-Br SLIC of earlier designs that relied with Frozen DT ablator Seed Layer on seeding the frozen DT, to CHOBr changed to Ignition Capsule: 1-2 micron be nearly identical to that of a ablator CHO-Seed seed layer "standard" NIF ignition ablator outside Frozen DT capsule. However, Figure 1. Schematic diagrams of the ignition capsules discussed in considerable research remains this section. The ablator material in most of our calculations is to be done on many physics brominated plastic (CHO-Br for short and color-coded green in these issues. diagrams). The indicated radii are approximate. The first capsule is the We have also begun work on baseline that has been designed by Steve Haan of LLNLs X division a modified hohlraum design. and his collaborators. The remaining capsules indicate the seed This design uses lower-Z material in red. The second capsule has high-Z seed material mixed materials since a standard gold into the outer third of the frozen DT (this design presents a target hohlraum severely attenuates fabrication challenge). In the third capsule, the bromine in the ablator the x-rays of interest (10-30 is replaced with a selected seed material. The fourth capsule shows the keV). This redesigned SLIC design, which stands for Seed Layer Ignition Capsule. So far, hohlraum must have same we have modeled only very thin, mid-Z seed layers. If hydrodynamic performance as the "standard" performance would be improved by adding a density gradient in a hohlraum. We have identified thicker seed layer, we could be compelled to move in that direction. the problem and are beginning work on a number of ideas. DSWA Final Report 20

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NWET ANNUAL REPORT QDV-99-0001IV-2. The CapsuleOur capsule designs are based on designs bySteve Haan, Max Tabak, and Tom Dittrich of radius (mm)X Division. Our work was started on a 30MJ capsule using a brominated plastic ablator(the first capsule in fig. 1); we are also usinga 17 MJ capsule that has a copper dopedberyllium (CuBe) ablator in our LASNEXcalculations. The design variations evolvedthrough three phases as shown in fig. 1. Thefirst variation put a high-Z seed in the outer CHO + 0.25%Br orthird of the DT fuel. The second variation Be+ 1%Cu Ablatorreplaced the bromine in the ablator with amid-Z material. The third variation put a thin(~2 |im) layer of a mid-Z seed between theDT fuel and the ablator. Our best resultshave been obtained with the SLIC design ~ 2 urn thick mid-Zshown in fig. 2 using a molybdenum K- K-shell radiating seed layershell- radiating seed layer between DT & ablatorIV-3. The Laser Drive Figure 2. This pie diagram shows the structure of theThe laser pulse is shaped to produce a brominated plastic ablator capsule.sequence of shocks that converge on the DTshell. The time-dependent drive spectrum,when converted to temperature, is shown infig. 3. Designers adjust the time andmagnitude of the various steps in the drivepulse to optimize shock convergence and 0.30 -capsule performance >IV-4. Calculations! Procedure t a 0.20 -All regions out to and including the ablator £were run with burn and NLTE physicsturned on. The neutronics were run with 8 o.iomultigroup diffusion. 3 oThe calculations are stopped shortly after wbang time when all of the hot x-rays (> 5 0.00keV) have been emitted. Soft x-rays with atemperature of about 100 eV and a totalenergy of several megajoules are emitted time (sh)over a longer time span of about 100 ns. Figure 3. The temperature of the x-ray sourceThese soft x-rays are ignored for the produced by the laser drive in the hohlraum.purposes of this paper. Cold gold opacity is a good approximation of the effect of hohlraums on warm and hot x-rays (hv > 5 keV). This works since only the inner portion of the hohlraum gets hot enough to emit and its temperature is less than 1 keV. The soft x-ray attenuation is overestimated (hv < 5 keV) since the ionization of the outer shells of the gold is neglected in using cold opacities. DSWA Final Report 21 -

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NWET ANNUAL REPORT QD.V-99-0001IV-5. Where is the emission occurring?As we tried to diagnose our early attempts at seeding a capsule we discovered that theabsorption by the gold hohlraum was masking the details of the emission by the capsule.Fig. 4 shows how the gold hohlraum walls attenuate the differential spectrum of thestandard unseeded capsule with a bromine-doped plastic ablator. Note that the spectrumloses all traces of the characteristic bromine K-shell emission (just above 15 keV) as thegold thickness increases. This shows the importance of minimizing the thickness or theoptical depth of the hohlraum so that the x-rays in the 10-40 keV range are not severelyattenuated.To determine the source of the emission in the capsule we put flux contours between thevarious regions and some within the fuel itself. By taking the difference between adjacentflux contours we determined the emission coming from a specific shell. Fig. 5 shows theemission from a 30 MJ brominated plastic ablator NIF capsule. The lower line is theemission from the DT part of the capsule while the upper line is the emission from theablator. This result pointed out that the bulk of the emission is from the ablator, inparticular from the bromine dopant that is the highest Z element present. This idea led intwo directions. Previous efforts by others as well as our own first efforts put the seed intothe DT fuel. As shown below this is not an optimal solution for getting hot x-rays. Next weconsidered a uniform dopant in the ablator. We are presently using a thin layer of an emitter between the ablator and the DT fuel. This concentrates the emitting atoms in the regionoutside the DT itself that gets the hottest. This should promote the emission of hot x-rays. 100 photon energy (keV)Figure 4. The dependence of the ignition-target output spectrum on the thickness of" the gold hohlraum.Cold gold opacities are used to illustrate how the absorption by the gold hohlraum wall completelyobscures K-shell emission (~I5 keV) of the bromine in the ablator. Cold opacities are representative ofthe actual wall absorption for the hotter photons of interest to this work. Note that the abscissa begins at5 keV. DSWA Final Report 22 -

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NWET ANNUAL REPORT QDV-99-0001 Energy Produced (J/g/s) Energy Produced (J/g/s) ¥ieM=3t.1209MJ sdC ;Vieid=i9.?999:l*} 8d012 4 ...J I U: i t 1 I II 1 t I ! 1 i I 1 I I i I I S ! N i. I I I I I I I L„ 4 J MilHI it t. H M 1. I t I I.I !H 1 1 ! 11 1 f 1 I")-! t Ablator ig4i Ablator W4z 3> . Seeded ;: <* U) " -. Fuel : ,;,J » - <&& 5 ^m 5- ■ ■ -J H^S-il**- m " Fuel jjaMRSlM ::: a; ^HH^U9 IP? ■w .i -15 -10 0 S ; 10 Time (ps) Figure 7. Energy production as a function oftinte arid mass : integratfd pur from the center, (a) The unseeded capsule, (hi A capsule wish 5 ppt uranium in the outer third of the Dl luel. The horizontal black lines denote the edges of the DT fuel and the interface between the seeded and unseeded portions of the DT. The interface decreases in mass Title to the btirnins of* the ÖT.:::::;.2. Seeding the ablatorSince the bromine (Z=35) that is normally in the ablator is the dominant sources of hot x-raysin the standard NIF capsule we replaced the bromine with higher-Z element*;. This isillustrated in the third schematic design in fig. I, Wc looked at strontium, molybdenum,tin, -neodymium, and ytterbium with Z~SS, 42, 50, 60, and 70, respectively. Table 1 listsand Fig. 8 shows the cumulative flucnecs from these calculations. The hot x-ray outputtends to increase with the Z of the seed. Except for the tin and molybdenum calculationsthey all Share a/ common high energy tail to the spectra. For each spectrum there k anincrease in x-rays at the region of characteristic K shell emi>sion for the seed element (thecold K edges are at 13.5, 29.2» 43.6,61.3 keV for Br, Sn, Nd, and Yb respectively). Thespectra show that the strength of the K-shelt emission is declining rapidly as Z increaseswhich is consistent with the ionization distribution of the ablator seed material during thetime of emission.These calculations were run with NLTE physics turned on. For some reason unknown tous at this time the tin and molybdenum calculations fall far below the others. There is noobvious reason for this and we are continuing to investigate it in case there is a problemwith the NLTE opacity package for tin. Part of the problem shows up as a reduction inyield. This can be caused1 by windows in the opacity of the seedfuitiihg the timing of the shocks or by heating the luel excessively. DSWA Final Report ■%4 -

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NWET ANNUAL REPORT QDV-99-0001Table 1. The x-ray energy (MJ) emitted above a cutoff by a seeded ablatorwith no hohlraum absorption. Seed (in ablator) Cutoff Energy None Sr Mo Sn Nd Yb 5keV 1.42 1.46 0.38 1.55 2.60 2.96 20keV 0.55 1.17 0.08 0.46 0.76 0.88 Yield 31.0 30.4 10.7 24.4 26.0 31.5 I I I I I I I _ NLTE calcs Br Sr J Mo Sn ... Nd — Yb 20 40 60 80 60 80 keV keV (a) (b) Figure 8. The spectra, (a), cumulative fluences, (b), from 30 MJ NIF capsules with different seeds in the plastic ablator. It is not yet known why the molybdenum calculation had a yield so much lower than the others (see Table I).3. Seed layer between the fuel and ablatorIt is only a thin layer on the inner edge of the ablator that gets hot enough to emit theenergetic x-rays. Fig. 9 shows how thin this layer is for the standard brominated ablator.Only the inner 30 fjm (-0.4 nig) of the ablator has the bromine stripped down to theK-shell. In an effort to increase the amount of hot, K-shell radiating material, we next triedputting a layer of the seed material between the DT and the ablator.IV-7. Results from Thin Seed LayersUsing thin seed layers is the most flexible scheme we have come up with so far. This is thefourth design in fig. 1. These results are preliminary; we have not optimized the layerthickness and have only tried single element seeds. We predict K-shell emission forelements with Z<50. Tables 2 and 3 show the results for this design. Table 2 and Fig. 10are the results for the bare capsule. Table 3 and Fig. 11 include absorption by 10 pn ofcold gold to simulate a thin hohlraum. When only the capsule emission is considered (Tab.2) a silver seed layer produces the most hot x-rays among the mid-Z K-shell emittingDSWA Final Report - 25 -

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NWET ANNUAL REPORT QDV-99-0001Table 3. The x-ray energy (MJ) emitted above a cutoff attenuated by a 10(im gold hohlraum. Seed (1.7 |im layer) Cutoff Energy None Br Mo Ag Sn Xe 5keV 0.43 0.81 0.99 0.95 0.80 0.49 20keV 0.37 0.68 0.82 0.77 0.64 0.37IV-8. Conditions in the seed layerFig. 12 depicts conditions in a seed layer of molybdenum. The time axis is centered on thetime of peak energy production. Note that the molybdenum is stripped into the K-shell rightafter the peak of energy production. Fig. 12b shows that the molybdenum is colder than theDT fuel. Its peak electron temperature is about 12 keV; much less than in the DT fuel. Thetemperature is lower since the molybdenum (with more electrons available) radiates moreefficiently than the DT fuel. Fig. 12c shows the mass decrease in the DT fuel due to burn.You can also see that the mass of the seed layer increases during burn; this is due to alphaparticles that are stopped in the molybdenum. This is one source of heating for this layer.IV-9. ConclusionsThe scheme of putting mid-Z seed between the fuel and the ablator is a robust way ofproducing hot x-rays. These Seed-Layer Ignition Capsules avoid the problem of reducedyields that occurs when the outer part of the DT is seeded. It also will be easier to fabricatetargets like this. We have preliminary results for CuBe ablator targets. Unoptimized,preliminary results suggest that a 34 MJ ignition capsule can produce over 4 MJ of x-raysover 5 keV and well over 1 MJ have energy greater than 20 keV. The results are similar tothe plastic ablator capsules for some cases. However, we find that these CuBe capsulesappear to be more sensitive to the seed layer preheating the fuel and decreasing the yield.There are numerous issues that remain to be addressed. Among these are:• Rayleigh-Taylor hydrodynamic instabilities at the ablator-DT interface (which maydecrease or may increase the hot x-ray emission). Mixing of the seed into the fuel will tendto decrease the yield and hot x-ray emission. The convoluted interface between the seed andthe fuel will have a larger surface area and will decrease the density of the seed; this willtend to decrease the emission as well. If unmixed seed is surrounded by burning DT thenemission may increase.• The NLTE physics that governs emission in the seed layer. One possible issue is that itmay be inaccurate for very thin layers. • Energy transport from the DT ignition region into the seed layer and the ablator. • Target-fabrication remains a concern but is reduced to being very similar to those of the standard NIF fusion capsule. The gold hohlraum can absorb a significant fraction of the interesting X rays that are produced. Replacing the gold in the hohlraum with a material that has similar low-Z opacity, e.g. FeS2, would allow more of the x-rays above 5 keV to escape. Another option would be to put a low-Z window material in a portion of the hohlraum to allow the x-rays to escape. A third option is to use a thin Au layer tamped by a low-Z material. DSWA Final Report 27

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NWET ANNUAL REPORT QDV-99-0001V-Review and Status of Facilitization for NWET on NIFV-1. Requested Modifications in the NIF DesignIn January 1996, the NIF Radiation Sciences Users Group (NRSUG) drafted suggestedchanges to the NIF Primary Criteria /Functional Requirements to support radiation effectstest capability. These suggestions resulted in the approval of Baseline Change Proposal96-005. This request Not to Preclude Radiation Testing was approved on May 1, 1996by the Level I Baseline Change Control Board. A synopsis of the requested changes in theNIF Functional Requirements and Primary Criteria to accommodate the requests of theNRSUG includes the following items: 1) the baseline design and operation should be capable of performing radiation effects testing, 2) there should be a higher shot rate to accommodate multiple user requests, 3) Id) and/or 2co operation should not be precluded, 4) there should be flexibility in beam focusing and pointing, 5) the basic capability for distributed sources is to be provided.V-2. Status of the Requested NIF Design ModificationsSignificant gains have been made over the past year in specification of the NRSUGrequested modifications to the NIF design to accommodate radiation effects testing. Thissection is intended to provide the status of the facilitization of the NIF to support radiationeffects testing as of December 1997. In January 1996, the DOE/ONIF directed the NIFProject Office to develop a response to the NRSUG requested modifications to the NIFdesign. This led to the NIF Baseline Design Change Proposal 97-005 that provided Notto Preclude Radiation Testing.A not-to-preclude or provide capability design requirement is a requirement that must beachieved and may have cost to implement outside of project cost. To satisfy thisrequirement, a NIF Project engineer must be able to show that additional hardware can beadded after the initial construction phase is complete with an acceptable schedule impact.The Project engineers primary mission is to design the NIF for its intended mission.Many of the not-to-preclude or provide capability design requirements will, therefore, ~ ... - Amplifier Transport spatial «Her Amplifier Preamplifier ""O-C^CDIIJ^ Deformablei„ , , Swlcr, (Poctahca mirTor :jX*>.f2toto»> Fiber/ MDer ~P11 U-4*S!l8ld : Target Periscopeassembly J W|: -,P?| =|E[ill2=^ Master oscillator (remote) Final optic* ass embly Figure I Schematic of the NIF 11-7 amplifier configuration DSWA Final Report - 31